Richardson: I would rather be lucky than be good

I don't know who that dude is that wrote the article above but he's out of his mind. I'm not about to do all that work and go to all that trouble to kill a deer.

Are you kidding me?

Plant food plots, get ticks all over me while scouting the comings and goings of a whitetail deer, and then buy and put up expensive stands all over the place.

Nope. I'm going to use the tried and true tactics that helped me take the most impressive deer of my life. Big Ed, as he is known, was a large bodied eight pointer with a perfectly symmetrical rack that scored out about 140. He was a beautiful specimen that any hunter would be proud of. The details that follow have never before been disclosed.

How did I do it? The first and foremost tactic involves a scientific process that I like to call "meandering". I don't think you will find this technique discussed in a hunting magazine so pay attention. Quite simply it means to pick out a likely looking place, park the truck and begin wandering around in the woods until you run across a large buck. Next you take aim, fire and then haul him back to the vehicle. You have to admit that's a lot less trouble than all that other stuff this goofball is trying to get you to do.

Truth is that my brother Terry and I actually double teamed Big Ed while "meandering" and there are a few points that I should add at this juncture in the story.

We headed out one November afternoon with no particular plan in mind except to wander around in the woods and see what we could find. We both carried shotguns loaded with buckshot and were soon looking for a place to rest so the expedition would not begin to resemble work.

Before long we heard something coming through the woods that sounded like a cattle stampede. There was nothing nearby to hide behind so we just stood there and over a little rise came this big old buck that was in a highly agitated state.

I figured Big Ed would spot us and immediately head in another direction but that was not the case. He actually made a beeline for us. It was readily apparent that we were under attack from this sex-crazed buck, which was obviously in full rut mode. We had been mistaken for does and I think that the big fella' wanted to dance. I never knew exactly what his plans were for us, but the quiet of those woods was immediately torn asunder by the booming reports from our shotguns.

Honestly at that moment we were not trying to take a trophy deer but rather defending ourselves from what we could only assume was a full scale assault on our persons. The firefight lasted long enough for us to empty three rounds each at the charging animal, and when the smoke cleared, the big buck lay dead at our feet.

Once we had our wits about us again it was apparent that this was a high-quality buck worthy of bragging about to all who would listen. Big Ed was a legend, at least in our minds.

In the aftermath of these events I began to evaluate the method we used to score a major victory and came to the conclusion that it was, in all likelihood the same one used by some of my heroes.

I've seen Jeremiah Johnson take a deer, an elk, and a buffalo in the space of two hours on TV. He never once planted a food plot or did any scouting to see what areas the animals might be using as bedding or feeding grounds. He didn't try to figure out if they were eating grass, acorns or fruit. He used the same method we had on our fateful day. Jeremiah Johnson just "meandered" through the mountains until he ran across those animals and then he shot them, cleaned them and roasted them over a Big Green Egg (just kidding).

Can you imagine Daniel Boone or Davey Crockett going through all that aggravation to kill a deer? Not likely. Those guys didn't have telescopic sights or use scent blockers. My gosh, they didn't even wear camo or have bug spray, two of the most basic tools of deer hunters today. Those gentlemen just "meandered," and I'll bet you they killed more deer than anyone who ever lived.

In summary, I firmly believe that all those shenanigans that involve sweaty agricultural chores and advance scouting are just new-age bunk. If you really want to take a bona fide trophy you need to adopt the method of "meandering" and follow in the footsteps of Jeremiah Johnson, Daniel Boone and Davey Crockett, who were some of the most successful hunters of all time.

It's not a new idea but those old frontiersmen had it down to an art. No more worry about all that preparation. Just get ready to "meander" and you will kill more deer, save money and won't be nearly as tired from all that scouting.